After retiring from the WWE last July and stepping down from his duties as the CEO, Chairman and Head of Creative due to paying nearly $20 million in previously unrecorded expenses, almost $15 million of which were hush money for the sexual misconduct allegations he received from four women over the past 16 years and $5 million of which to the now-defunct foundation of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Vince McMahon recently returned to the company and was reinstated to the Board of Directors. He would then be named the Executive Chairman of the Board just hours later.
Since Vince made his return to the WWE, there have been a bunch of speculations as to what he will be doing aside from helping secure new TV rights deals for RAW and SmackDown and also look for potential bidders interested in buying the company. McMahon’s return to the WWE sent huge shockwaves throughout the entire pro wrestling industry as not only did Stephanie McMahon resign from the WWE as Chairwoman and co-CEO, rumors started swirling all over the internet and social media about a potential WWE sale and it was noted that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchased the company, but that has since been flat-out denied.
Dave Meltzer revealed on a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that certain people in the WWE have said Saudi Arabia was still in the running of potential buyers for the company, but they are not the favorite. As of this writing, potential buyers for the WWE include Comcast (NBCU’s parent company), Netflix, Amazon, Endeavor Group Holdings (UFC’s parent company), Disney, ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT & TBS’ parent company), Disney and FOX and WWE recently hired JPMorgan and Raine Group to help lead the company’s potential sale.
